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Talk:Directory:Directly Downwind Faster than the Wind

Lasted edited by Andrew Munsey, updated on June 15, 2016 at 2:09 am.



This test is not acutally testing the device moving at 10 MPH, the wheels are turning at 10mph but the speed of the test device is ZERO! it is not moving. There is not a 10mph head wind acting against it. In one video clip someone says make sure the ceiling fan does not turn on when flipping the light switch. They are only creating a few ounces of force to overcome the friction on the tread mill. If they use a fish scale and measure the force with out the propeller that is all they are counteracting. If they apply a 10mph wind the thing will blow right off the back.

Also I thought moving into the wind was going UpWind I may be wrong. To make the test complete they need to add a fan moving air at 10mph set and the tread mill at 10mph then show us the thing move into the wind.


Ok after watching the challenge video I get it, we are trying to go faster than the wind. I will think more on this.


Practical modifications?

Could the gearing be altered to make this device drive directly into the wind? If the propellor span 10 times faster than the wheels, and were connected the other way round, could it slowly crawl up a wind gradient towards a fan? It seems like it would work to have the propellor turn a worm gear that slowly inched the wheels in the direction of the wind. You could only go directly upwind maybe 1/10 or 1/5 of the wind speed but then you would have complete freedom of motion with no tacking or zigzagging. Patrickthomson 05:06, 6 June 2010 (PDT)